1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of broadcast systems. More particularly, this invention relates to the art of collecting and providing viewer feedback to a broadcast.
2. Background
The volume and variety of television, radio, and internet programming has increased considerably in recent years. For instance, digital cable systems and satellite antenna systems now offer hundreds of channels of programming twenty-four hours a day. Similarly, the Internet provides access to countless on-line interactive events. Even with a regular antenna, the airwaves in many markets are crammed full of dozens of television and radio channels. Sorting through all of the viewing, listening, and interactive options can be time consuming and frustrating.
A programming guide may be helpful, but most programming guides merely list broadcasts by time slot and channel. With hundreds of channels, including free channels, various categories of pay channels, pay per view channels, view on demand channels, etc., a programming guide can become very long and confusing. A viewer could spend a considerable amount of time reading a list of broadcasts for a given time slot and deciphering which broadcasts are actually available to the viewer.
All too often, a viewer may simply choose to flip through a few channels, or a great many channels as the case may be, until he or she finds a broadcast that he or she can tolerate. When the viewer loses interest, he or she may flip through some more channels, aimlessly looking for something of interest. Meanwhile, advertisers, television producers, and other programming providers want their broadcasts to reach the most receptive audiences possible. A viewer with hundreds of channels to choose from, who aimlessly flips through channels, can easily miss an appealing broadcast or advertisement. So, both viewers and programming providers want to be able to identify broadcasts that are likely to be of interest to particular viewers.
One way to predict how likely it is that a particular viewer will find a broadcast interesting is to examine feedback from previous viewers; especially previous viewers who have similar characteristics. For instance, if 85% of female viewers ages 25 to 35 highly recommend a broadcast, a significant portion of subsequent female viewers ages 25 to 35 are likely to enjoy the broadcast as well. For years, programming providers have used focus groups, surveys, Nielson ratings, etc. in an attempt to predict viewer preferences to make broadcasts appeal to the widest possible audience or to target certain audiences. These approaches have their limitations, however. For instance, they have done little to help viewers find the broadcasts that are most likely to be interesting to them. Therefore, both viewers and programming providers need an improved method and apparatus to collect and provide viewer feedback to a broadcast based on viewer characteristics.